Windows of Prague
Revolting Against Authority
Overview
The following essay is a brief literary visit to Prague, a city that was at the heart of European politics as our modern capitalist system replaced the old feudal one. During that time, the Czechs rejected rule from Rome by the Pope. A bold act of defiance on their part ignited a military conflict that raged out of control and consumed the entire continent. When the dust finally settled, the Pope was no longer the top dog in the geopolitical landscape of Europe…
Introduction
The transition from the lord-and-peasant economy of the Middle Ages to our modern employer-and-employee economy was accelerated by the deeds of Martin Luther. A century after Luther’s infamous protest against the Roman Catholic Church, the movement he unleashed culminated in the Thirty Years War. That conflict gave birth to the modern system of politics we’re still living with to this day.
Defenestration
The most famous “Defenestration of Prague” took place in 1618. At that time, the Holy Roman Empire—essentially modern-day Germany and Central Europe—was splitting into Protestant and Catholic factions. The fracturing of the Empire evoked the split of Roman Empire into East and West during the collapse of that society a thousand years before. It marked the end of Antiquity. Similarly, the split of the Holy Roman Empire into Catholic and Protestant factions marked the end of the Medieval political order, in which the Pope sat atop the geopolitical hierarchy of Europe.
The German word “fenster” means “window”. It’s the root of the English word “defenestration”, which means throwing somebody out of a window. Over the centuries, defenestrations have become something of a tradition in the city of Prague, which is located in the modern-day Czech Republic. During the Middle Ages, this city was an important part of the Holy Roman Empire. At times, Prague served as its capital.
But in 1618, the Empire was going through a succession. The outgoing emperor had been tolerant toward Protestantism, but the incoming emperor Ferdinand II was loyal to the Pope; he made no secret of his intention to crack down on Protestants within his Empire. A bitter civil war was brewing. The northern half of the Holy Roman Empire, including Prague, wanted to go Protestant while the Southern factions remained fervent Catholics.
The spark that ignited the war came when enraged Protestants marched into Prague Castle, seized two Catholic governors, and threw them out a second-story window. A clerk who got swept up in the frenzy was defenestrated along with them. Amazingly, all three survived the fall, with only a broken leg among them.
The Thirty Years’ War
The three men tumbled fifty feet into a pile of horse manure. In the aftermath, the printing presses flooded Europe with propaganda pamphlets. Catholic propaganda represented the cushioning feces as God’s salvation, while Protestant propaganda represented the same as the only fit treatment for Catholics.
But jokes soured and the mood in Europe grew dark as war clouds gathered on the horizon. The Pope marshalled his political allies to support the emperor, while Protestant powers like Sweden dispatched troops to support Protestant factions within the Empire. Virtually every polity in Europe was dragged into the fighting. Because it considered the Holy Roman Empire an enemy, Catholic France entered the war on the side of the German Protestants. What started as a conflict over religious freedom descended into a bitter power struggle as the Medieval political paradigm descended into chaos.
The war caused significant loss of life, with estimates of casualties ranging from 4.5 to 8 million, including soldiers and civilians. Many regions experienced extreme violence, famine, and disease. Cities and villages were looted and destroyed, leading to economic collapse and population displacement. The brutality of the war left deep scars on the European landscape and psyche, reshaping the continent's social, political, and economic structures.
Conclusion
Martin Luther’s bold act of protest against the Roman Catholic Church inspired a powerful Protestant political movement. Ultimately, that movement gained enough traction to challenge the power of the Pope in Rome. And it spilled over from the domain of religion and into the realm of economics. By successfully toppling the power of the Vatican during the Thirty Years War, the Protestants greatly accelerated the transition from Feudalism to Capitalism.
Relevant Quote:
But in Prague Count Heinrich von Thurn pleaded with the Protestant leaders to prevent the ardently Catholic Archduke Ferdinand from taking the throne of Bohemia. Emperor Matthias had left five deputy governors to administer the country during his absence. The governors overruled the Protestants in disputes about church building at Klostergrab, and sent the objectors to jail. On May 23, 1618, Thurn led a crowd of irate Protestants into Hradschin Castle, climbed to the rooms where two of the governors sat, and threw them out the window, along with a pleading secretary. All three fell fifty feet, but they landed in a heap of filth and escaped more soiled than injured. That famous ‘defenestration’ was a dramatic challenge to the Emperor, to the Archduke, and to the Catholic League. Thurn expelled the Archbishop and the Jesuits and formed a revolutionary Directory. He could hardly have realized that he had let loose the dogs of war.
Will & Ariel Durant, The Age of Reason Begins, 1961, page 556